Inevitable: Maou and Emi Drabble Series
by myshippingdock
Summary: Fragments of the conflicting, complicated relationship between Maou and Emi. May contain Novel Spoilers.
1. Chapter 1

#1 an impossible goal.

_"Live a happy, normal life here without any trouble."_

But he didn't want _normal_.

_"Forget about Ente Isla and start afresh here." _

He didn't want to _forget _Ente Isla.

_"If you do that, I'll leave you alone." _

He knew that.

If he did that or even just told her he would, _she would leave him alone_.

He didn't want that.

He didn't want her to _leave him alone_.

What would be the meaning of his existence if the Hero left the Demon Lord on his own and condemned him to a dull, uninspiring life of redundant normalcy?

He absolutely did not want that no matter what.

He could work hard at a normal life only because he dreamed of becoming great again.

And if she refused to show up now and then to disrupt the flow of his very 'regular' lifestyle, he was afraid he would fade away into nothingness and become utterly ordinary again.

He couldn't let that happen.

Not after how hard he had worked to gain all kinds of knowledge that would have normally been beyond the reach of a demon like him.

**He absolutely couldn't let her leave. That was final.**

She was key to maintaining his identity and unlocking his greatness.

_"No way. I will definitely return to conquer Ente Isla again."_

_…_

A world of 'things' had passed between then and now.

To start afresh had taken on a whole new meaning for him.

Neither of them knew how to define or maintain the boundaries of their identities anymore.

The lines between their roles were blurring and getting thinner day by day, and sometimes, they crisscrossed or disappeared altogether.

But he still wanted to conquer Ente Isla.

There would be no point to gaining all that knowledge from his encounter with the archangel Lailah, also Emi's mother, if he couldn't manage to civilize his kind and create a world where demons and humans could coexist peacefully.

That had to be done. And he was the only one who could do it.

But starting afresh held a definite and fresh kind of allure for him now.

Starting afresh meant having Emi by his side.

Starting afresh meant acquiring Emi's permission to let their worlds collide without crashing down.

Starting afresh meant Emi allowing him to show her a better world.

But Most of all though….

Starting afresh had become synonymous with wanting Emi.

Loving Emi.

Conquering Emi.

Body, Heart and Soul.

Even if it seemed as impossible as Emi herself.

She wanted nothing to do with him.

She had made that clear with every breath she took.

She would much rather order him to start afresh with other girls instead, though he wasn't entirely confident about this either.

In the beginning, she would try her hardest to warn Chiho and Suzuno away from him. But she hadn't behaved like that in a long time now. She seemed to have at least come to the conclusion that he wasn't dangerous in that regard and didn't have any harmful or inappropriate designs on either girl.

In that light, if it ever came to considering that there might be something between him and Emi, she might much rather push the other girls at him to ward him off.

Yes.

She would push him toward Chi-chan, the cheerful, naïve girl with hearts and flowers in her bright, innocent smile and aggressive, hopeful gaze.

Or toward Suzuno, the endearing shrewd girl with an awkward kinship and sensitivity in her serene smile and tempered gaze.

But he was never good at following orders anyway, especially when they came from Emi.

He supposed he should want to start afresh with Chiho Or Suzuno.

But he didn't.

Instead, he wanted to start afresh with Emi, the girl with the broken smile and a world of heartache in her raging, bottomless, peridot meadow globes.

He couldn't though.

He knew that.

It was a given that she would never have him.

Not yet.

He was the reason she walked around her broken world with a broken smile…

…and pretended to gaze around with expressive, _sadwild _orbs that glittered with curiosity, but broke when she locked eyes with him unable to help herself deflecting fragments of her aching world at him…

He was the reason she was like that after all….

She liked to pretend she was tough…

And hid her vulnerability from the rest of the world.

She shouldered the justice of the world with a fierceness that belied her inner turmoil.

She would do it all alone if she could.

She loathed to accept his help.

And he would watch her from the sidelines.

And charge ahead for reasons of his own, regardless of her temper tantrums.

And pretend he wasn't there for her sake too.

He would allow her this pretense because he knew she could never allow herself to accept any form of kindness from him.

She could never allow him to breach her world.

He had set himself an impossible goal.

Because that was what Emi was.

An impossible goal.

But _he was Satan Jacob_.

The Demon King who had conquered Ente Isla against impossible odds once upon a time.

_He was Maou Sadao_.

The human Demon King who mastered human-speak and lifestyle and became a model McRonald's crew member within the span of a year, and was currently in the patient process of steadily conquering McRonald's.

He was meant to achieve the impossible goals he set for himself.

He was the demon lord who didn't know how to give up.

Relentlessly chasing after an impossible goal was his demons lifeblood.

He had reached impossible goals before.

He would do it again.

Because Emi was entirely worth it.

He had tried to _maintain the status quo._

He had tried to maintain the status quo that was precious to them before.

He had tried to maintain the status quo by playing along with her dutiful vigilance of him.

He had tried to maintain the status quo by being the bad guy for her sake.

He had tried to maintain the status quo because he had been just as afraid as her.

He _didn't want to_ maintain the status quo _anymore_.

He wanted to start afresh.

_"Lets start over. I'll prove it to you with my actions. I'm not the Demon Lord you think I am."_

_"We'll start from scratch. If you're still not satisfied with me, then we'll settle things as Hero and Demon Lord to the end." _

He wanted to start afresh with _her_.

_"So Hero Emilia, follow me so I can show you a new world." _

_"Y-you dense idiot."_

He wanted this impossible goal more than he had wanted any other impossible goal before.


	2. Chapter 2

#1. Till death do them part. 

He woke up to her head of bright red nestled sweetly in the crook of his arm, soft breathing tickling his stiff neck. He felt his heart tighten contentedly as she burrowed closer still in blissful sleep, unaware of his familiar heavy lidded gaze on her.

He loved waking up before her just for this.

He reverently weaved his fingers through the long red tresses beside him splayed magnificently on their ivory bedspread, indulging himself. The tangled strands shone like ceaseless crimson waves, gliding smooth and rough against his wandering fingers.

He loved her hair. The feel of it. The length of it.

He almost couldn't wait for her to wake up so he could comb through the restless tangles and braid her beautiful, red storm of hair for her.

He loved her face too.

He allowed the tips of his fingers to tread lightly over her perfect features- the dip of her cheek, the cleft of her chin and her sweet parted lips;

A soft invisible caress so as not to disturb her peaceful slumber….

She looked the ethereal angel she was when asleep and not running that tempting, devil of a fierce mouth at him.

His lips curved up crookedly, eyes alighting with a tender softness.

He liked that about her too though. And he really did deserve it most of the time.

…..

He felt he could stare at her endlessly like this.

Emi was unbelievably pretty.

He had forced himself to ignore the fact when they were bitter frenemies - the boiling, acerbic Hero and the brazen, irreverent Demon Lord.

An impossible duo, destined to be forever at odds with each other.

To think how they had hated each other.

Or more accurately, - How_ she _had hated him.

He had never really hated her.

He just hadn't understood her hate.

The concept of being human had been still too fresh and alien for him to fully grasp the difficulties of experiencing human emotions.

He had been annoyed and frustrated at her relentless attitude towards him; angered by her victory over him and felt thoroughly humiliated by her, but he had never truly despised her, even when he had liked to believe he did.

He had needed her to keep hating him though.

Because he hadn't known any better.

Because he hadn't _known_ how else to relate to her.

She obviously had not wanted to be friends. Or had any desire to talk things out with him.

And he had wanted revenge for being forced out of Ente Isla.

He had been too angry with her as well.

And attracted to her too. And frustrated because he was.

Probably, since the very beginning when he couldn't ignore her even as a stranger.

He hadn't assimilated that fact then though.

He recalled her slim attractive figure standing there at the crossing, wet clothes clinging to her small, vulnerable frame, breathing heavy and helpless against the rain. Something about her had compelled him to sneak glances at her and give her his only umbrella (despite his miserable finances risking Alsief's wrath).

He was practical. And logical. He didn't operate on emotions.

He volunteered in the neighborhood because he understood the concept and strengths of a connecting network of people and a mobilized community.

It was similar to how he had mobilized and civilized the demon verse, after all.

He helped people along the way.

He wasn't the type to go out of his way to help strangers who looked like they could get by easily without his measly help.

But he had done it for _Emi_. It _had_ to be because he felt drawn to her in some capacity.

Either way, _that_ had been the real beginning of 'them', hadn't it?

Their first, unfettered meeting without the labels of Hero or Demon Lord attached to them.

They had let each other have a brief, tantalizing glimpse of who they were underneath all the drama of their grand roles and it stuck.

The fresh impressions were part of who they were and clung stubbornly to the recesses of their minds against their wills, making it impossible to entirely forget.

Everything they learned about each other floored them.

He saw why she hated him. He realized he didn't hate her as much as she hated him.

And it was infuriating.

But she hadn't known how to get by without hating him.

And neither had he.

So he made lame, overly ambitious declarations which sounded ridiculous but suspicious and vague enough to have her leave him alone, yet, keep her hanging and coming back to check on him. He meant every stupid word too.

[As a demon with a ridiculously long life-span, there was every possibility he could conquer both, Ente Isla and Japan someday, though admittedly, he wasn't as invested in conquering japan as he was Ente Isla, and advancing forward in McRonald's to augment his daily living.]

Regardless, as embarrassing as it was to admit, somewhere along the way her acknowledgement, [even if it was to 'rebuke him', 'mock his ambitions', or 'grudgingly accept his presence despite her justified hatred of him']-, had become irrevocably significant to him.

Somewhere along the way, they began to see right through each other.

She was humiliatingly spot on when she guessed he had only wanted to do something impressive like conquer Ente Isla so someone would acknowledge him.

He had wanted to be incredible.

He had wanted very badly to share his newfound knowledge with the demon world and open their limited horizons to a world of communication far-removed from the screaming, blood and violence they were accustomed to.

He had also just as badly wanted that 'out-of-the-world;-awe-inspiring;-far-reaching;-odds-defying-destiny' that would impress upon the world the greatness of his existence in no-nonsense definitive terms, and later on, force her, the only human capable of upsetting his plans, to recognize him.

Of course he would want grand things like that.

He had been a lowly, weak and miserable _goblin _demon-child after all.

An empty, pathetic excuse of an existence defined him a long time ago.

It was during this time that he became infused with special knowledge and a burning desire for more. He became driven and concentrated on achieving the in-achievable.

His fateful encounter with Lailah, the unexpectedly kind archangel of the top brass, [who incidentally also happened to be Emi's mother] became the blessed catalyst to his unholy beginning.

Fate was funny like that. It was twisted and ironic too.

He had desperately wanted change;

He had wanted desperately to change;

He had wanted to not feel powerless anymore;

To become stronger; less pathetic.…

In the process, he forgot what was most important and lost himself.

And he had continued like that for more than 400 years…. until Emi.

She had shown up out of nowhere and unraveled everything he had pursued in a span of 2 years.

Talk about fast work.

He had persevered for 500 years, studying a language, world and politics alien to him, and achieved the unthinkable, [albeit through irresponsible, questionable and ignorant means, but he had meant well], _only_ to be wrested of everything in a measly 2 years.

The Great Demon King Satan; bested by a seventeen year old chit; her piercing gold-green eyes glowing with hate and immovable resolve; the swift, powerful strike of the sacred sword, clenched tightly in her small, bold human hands, decisively clipping his left horn, backing him into a corner and out of Ente Isla.

She was remarkable. She was her mother's daughter after all.

To think he was elevated to in-achievable heights by the motherly instinct of a nurturing archangel because she had been moved by the _strange tears of an injured demon child to heal and educate him_; Only to be brought down by her vengeful daughter who inherited her mother's angel blood, and who in turn, had moved _him _by her _strange tears and suffering at his ignorant, careless hand._

Without meaning to, he had repaid the archangels kindness by taking away everything good in her daughter's life and forcing Emi to deal with somebody like him on a daily basis.

He was humbled to know that it hadn't ended there.

Because Emi was _Emi_, she had _changed _him.

She had made him see.

She had made him feel, learn, and understand what it was to be truly human, and take responsibility for his thoughtless actions.

And just like that, without meaning to, they had become a permanent fixture in each other's life. They couldn't separate themselves from each other now even if they tried.

Unsure and at a loss because all the reasons they shouldn't get along were becoming less and less significant each day, they tried to pretend ignorance.

But they couldn't escape the fact that they were changing.

He _couldn't_ ignore her significance to him.

Emi had become so much more than the Hero with a personal vendetta against him.

Her compassion and incredible capacity for kindness astounded him.

It lead her to _forgive_ someone like him despite all the misdeeds of his past; and amazingly so, in spite of her tearful vow to never do so.

Her father may have been alive effectively dissolving her central reason for despising him, but that _didn't _change the fact that he was still the one who took her away from him.

He was still the reason she became acquainted with a nasty world of blood, violence and demons killing humans as a child. He _had_ pushed her into becoming the church's tool, unconsciously satisfying their self-serving machinations, irrelevant of whether he had consciously wanted to or not. It was more than any child her age should have had to face.

He _was_ the reason she lost the bliss of her precious, carefree days.

He stole her childhood from her. He was the reason she grew up too fast.

The reason she acted way too mature and adult-like for somebody her age. […except in her unusual, childlike delight in making cute purchases like the Rikkakuma wallet…]

_She had become the Devil-May-Care Hero of the world to combat the Hell-with-Humans Demon Lord Persona that she was familiar with on the battlefield front. _

His persevering existence, his careless mistakes and reckless agenda were to blame.

There was no getting around that.

He couldn't blame her for spitting fire at him and being more than reluctant to see beyond the demon in him. _But she had done it anyway, in all her reluctant glory._

She had every reason not to and yet, she had.

The more he thought about it, the more she seemed like the awe-inducing angel she was to him.

She had felt the devastating effects of the demon in him personally and still chose to forgive him for everything he had put her through…

She was really something else…

And he would be in awe of her every day and every minute of his life for it.

Hell, he still remembered clearly their second interaction in Sasazuka.

The precious, fire-breathing, demon-hating-girl had unbelievably told him she would fucking leave him alone so _he,_ [the horrid demon lord who had destroyed her world and everything she had known] could live a happy, carefree life without her botheration if he promised to be good, the opposite of what she had believed him to be.

How mind-blowingly gracious she had been then.

He didn't know what exactly he had been thinking at the time when he refused, but he would be damned now if he would have ever let her leave him alone, and let her think of him as a small fry, burger-flipping demon lord not worth her precious Hero time then.

He hadn't realized for a long time how much character and resolve it had taken her to say something like that to him.

Even when she hated him, she had forced herself to uphold her strong sense of justice.

She had deliberately held back.

She had given him an out, sitting there, cross-legged, with a repressed calmness on the circle of flowerbed atop the round, concrete stand near their favorite crossing, her slender fingers curled tightly between the curve of her thighs, when internally, she must have been itching to slash his head off right then.

How much had it taken her to be_ that_ 'good'?

_It was no wonder this strong, compassionate slip of a half-angel-human girl with frustrating complexities and puzzling contradictions had become his undoing._

It had taken someone with her brand of troubles and her brand of person to stir emotions in the logical, practical undertakings of a demon turned human like him.

There could have been nobody else for him but her.

She had affected him so much, he had gone and fallen head-over-heels in love with her when he didn't even know how to recognize this particular emotion like the big dense idiot he was, and despite being very much against either of their wills then.

He chuckled, recalling Emi's adorable beet-red face as she called him exactly that for unintentionally surrendering all of himself to her mercy, and asking her to supervise, check and exact her punishment of him as she saw fit, but warning her that he wouldn't go easy on her either, in the exact way lovers were wont to do when there was a world of hate, hurt, betrayal and uncertainty between them. He hadn't realized it then, but he was practically giving dominion of himself to her to do with as she pleased.

He had the gleeful gall to offer himself as her birthday present and she had promptly brandished her deadly sword and slammed his cheeky self into a tree forbidding any utterance of his 'weird' declarations where she was concerned.

And to think after all that, by some insane grace, she had gone and let herself fall in love with him too. It was more than he could have asked for.

Well, almost more than he could have asked for. Alas-Ramus was another unexpected gift in his life that he would feel just as overwhelmed about.

She was Fate's best, satirical hand for them.

To be handed a precious, lovable, better-half baby that forced them to interact as a family and relate to each other in ways they would never have allowed themselves to do otherwise was pretty crazy. But Alas-Ramus was one of the best things that could have happened to them.

_The highest note of their by then, weird, indefinable, rocky relationship was choosing to overcome the awkward, relationship baby bumps without ripping each other apart_.

Without their daughter, they might not have been so willing to let down their guards and allow themselves to acknowledge their strange affinity for each other.

And therefore, the end result of their little bundle of unexpected joy was Satan finding unbelievable happiness in the midst of their most unusual, little make-shift family and being elevated to greater heights than he had ever dreamed of.

It felt incredibly surreal to have Emi, and Alas-Ramus, a heavenly fragment of the Sephirot, by his forbidden demon side like this, and despite the impending reality of a separation they allowed themselves to be lulled into being together and became irrevocably attached.

And for these reasons mainly he would be forever emboldened to Emi's mother for taking pity on him that miserable day and staying to heal him even though he had bared his teeth at her. He would never have been able to see and feel so many beautiful things in such a manner now if not for that.

Emi's existence and pursuit of him in the human world had reminded him how much he had hated the idea of fading away into mediocrity. He had known Emi was his ticket out of it. But He hadn't known that she would become so much more that.

Everything he had done after that point had been unconsciously geared towards seeking her approval or judgment in some form or other.

There were times he had been afraid of her and her 'hate' and retaliated on principle and instinct, but overall, he had welcomed her antagonism. Secretly, he had desired it even. It had given him a sense of direction and allowed him to senselessly react, rather than wonder how exactly he was supposed to deal with somebody like her.

She shook him to his core and gave him pause when he realized her hate for him was justified. He reconstructed himself in response to her and prepared to take responsibility for his actions and grew increasingly defensive with her because of it.

He had been unsure how to deal with Emi's startling revelation of his sins, but as soon as he had become uncertain, he became certain again. He told himself not too think too hard on it. She didn't want that. She couldn't handle his kindness as much he couldn't handle hers. That sort of confusion was too frustrating to contemplate.

Therefore it was best for both to suppress and ignore the odd moments and in-between interactions, and proceed to bite each other's heads off like usual for the stupidest inane things till they reached a breaking point.

He had believed she would never forgive him no matter what he did anyway. So just like she wanted; just like what was familiar to them, he, like her, erroneously thought there could only be hate or conflict between them.

Fate, fortunately, had other plans for them and kept decisively chipping away at all the justifiable reasons for animosity between them.

Hate simply couldn't serve as a veritable buffer for them anymore, or withstand the contained emotions and tensions between them, _or_ surpass the still fresh, tentative, and steady progression of their relationship since coming into contact with each other, and Alas-Ramus on Earth.

It was inevitable that a dam would burst and drown them both in an irrevocable, inevitable bind that they could only define as... Love; as mushy as that sounded.

They evoked too many strong emotions in each other to call it anything less than that. If they couldn't legitimately hate each other anymore, and still felt impossibly strongly about the other and knew they couldn't comparably feel this quantity and level of emotion for no one else, what else could their feelings have ascended to?

They had come so far together, they couldn't fool themselves into believing that hate or detestation was the predominant feeling between them any longer.

It had been time for them stop making excuses and come clean.

He still couldn't believe they were finally over their squabbling, immature phase of fighting tooth and nail against it. It was near unbelievable to have come full circle so gloriously since their less than savory beginning.

It had taken him a pretty long time to assimilate she was really his now, body, heart and soul.

Part of the reason waking up before her every morning had become a precious, private ritual for him was to ascertain she wasn't a hallucination and really was lying here in his muscled demon arms, sleeping soundly in them.

He allowed his gaze to sweep and linger over her arresting, heart-shaped face, content just to observe this time, the sharp, delicate features softened amiably in her sleep, - the mellow line of her relaxed brows, the long, smoky red lashes resting lightly on peach-dusted olive cheekbones, the small button nose with a haughty Cleopatra tilt, triggered to activate on moody occasions, mostly because of yours truly, and the slightly parted full lips, the ripe pink hue of blossoms.…He felt the inexplicable urge to pluck afresh and nibble her bottom lip with his own, less enticing ones.

He couldn't get over the full feeling in his large demon chest to see her sleeping adorably, akin an innocent, cherub-faced angel-babe, curled up trustingly in his unworthy demon arms.

He hadn't known he was capable of experiencing tender emotions like these until she crashed into his world with the force she had and shocked him into gear.

Contrary to then, he was incredibly glad now she had.

He leaned over her, intending to softly brush her lips with his, when her eyes fluttered open lazily, precious golden-green peridot globes boring into his aroused crimson craters.

"What do you think you're doing?" she queried, cheeks reddening, a husky bite to her voice, hoarse from sleep and innocently turned on by his proximity.

He grinned back at her, silencing her weak protest with an earth-shattering kiss that left them both trembling and weak in the knees.

This felt natural.

As natural as snarking at each other used to be.

As natural as breathing.

And just as naturally, he proceeded to make slow, excruciating love to her like it was nobody else's business; like he did every morning now, feeling the familiar onslaught of pleasure in their activities that neither bothered to deny themselves anymore.

That they would become lovers had been an inevitable conclusion.

They just hadn't known it then...

Being ignorant and more interested in raising Hell than making Love.

Even now, it still felt like a crime to him to be this content.

He didn't deserve this kind of happiness. But he had it now. And He would cherish it.

He wouldn't let it get away or trade it for the entirety of the world or Japan, even if they were offered to him on a silver platter.

He had Ente Isla now.

And Emi.

He would give up even Ente Isla for Emi now that he finally had her, and understood what it was to love somebody with complete abandon.

She was all the temptation he needed. He was glad he didn't have to though, and that both his impossible goals coexisted peacefully and aligned well together.

Thinking back…

There really wasn't any other way it could have gone down.

They were bound to set each other on fire and drag the world around them into their alarming pace.

They were well and truly Lovers now.

[The Demon Lord and _His _Hero.

The Hero and _Her_ Demon Lord. ]

Till death do them part.

It had a niice, phenomenal, 'Out-Of-The-World-Destiny-Defying' ring to it.

And he would wear the title of 'Lovers, till death do them part' with incredible pride.

He wanted to marry her.

He was just waiting for them to be ready to share their secret with the denizens of Ente Isla.

This peace between them. He would enjoy it to the fullest.

Together now, they were an unstoppable force.

There was nothing they couldn't achieve or fix.

God Save Ente Isla. Or Japan. If they turn their sights on it.

End Note: [Maou's evil-just as planned- I'msoawesome-derpy face:D]


	3. Chapter 3

#Gifts from Ente Isla.

Summary: After much deliberation he decided he would get Emi a birthday gift, whether she wanted it or not.

He almost forgot.

He had promised Chi-chan he would bring her a souvenir from Ente Isla. He supposed now was as good a time as any. He had a couple of hours to cruise around before they opened the gate for him.

While he was looking around, Emi's upcoming birthday refused to un-lurk from the periphery of his thoughts. He thought back to how Emi had vehemently said she didn't want any present from him.

That should have been the end of it.

She didn't want anything from him. She had been pretty clear about that.

He should not be troubling himself to think about what he could get her.

He strolled casually towards a stall with an impressive display of sophisticatedly decorated spoons. He picked up a spoon, distracted, and ran his fingers over its intricate design…two winged birds with overlapping tails, facing away from each other, perched atop the pretty spoon, the sculpted design intertwining and twisting around below and above it.

"That's a pretty nice one that caught your eye. A present for your girlfriend?"

Startled, Maou looked up at the smiling old saleslady as he hastily placed the spoon back in its original spot. "Ah, No. nothing like that. It just looked interesting is all."

"I am looking for a souvenir though. For a friend." He added.

"Ah, I see. Sorry! Let me help you find one. What kind of person is your friend?"

"Ah, a cheerful, nice person who probably likes cute things, I guess."

"Hmm, I suppose you don't want to get that first one that jumped at you?"

"Ah no. Not that one. It felt more suited for somebody else." He shrugged.

He had instantly thought of Emi when he saw it.

"Oh? How about this one then? It has a cute flower at the top and a pretty bow on it too! What do you think?"

"Oooh, Yeah. I think she might like that. I'll take it. Thanks lady."

"You're welcome. Did you know that every spoon here says something special? This one you're buying says, 'I value your bright open outlook, ever-ready help and trusted support in difficult times". I'm sorry. I forgot to mention it earlier."

"Really? That's alright. It seems I picked the right one. She's always trying her best to help us out so it's great that it says that. Thanks again lady!"

"No problem! You sure you don't want that other one?"

Well that was easy. Now if only he could stop sneaking glances at that other spoon in between- Maybe he should just get it for Em-.

"Son?.."

"Uhh, sorry, what was that again?"

She held up the spoon he had just been looking at.

"You were looking intently at it, so I thought maybe you want it after all?"

"I don't know…I think mayyybe.." he sighed frustratingly.

"Tell me more about this girl. Is she a friend?"

"...Sort of, I guess. She wouldn't _like it_ if I called her that though."

"Ah, she's more special then."

"Huh?"

"Like a Girlfriend- or a lover-someone you like?"

He looked over his shoulder comically for Emi, even though he knew she wasn't there.

"Shhh. If she heard you right now, she'd definitely turn red with anger and cause a ruckus, yelling loudly, 'Absolutely not!'"

The old lady chuckled. "Ah, I see. She's giving you a lot of grief, is she?"

"You have no idea," He said, with an exaggerated grimace.

"Ha ha, are you in the middle of a quarrel right now?"

He thought back to how she got mad and whipped out her sword at him when he asked her to join him.

"I guess you could say that."

"Then this spoon may be the best thing to mollify her."

"Really?" he asked curiously.

"Yes! It's the perfect thing to show your girlfriend/ lover you don't want to fight with her anymore."

"That's umm, great, but we don't have that kind of relationship though."

"Eh, really? Sorry, I thought- I mean, it seemed like you were…"

"It's alright…A lot of people tend to misunderstand our relationship that way. What exactly does that spoon say though?"

"I see..." she responded thoughtfully, with a knowing, gleaming look in her eye he didn't understand, "It says, 'I want to take on the world with you by my side'."

"That's damn perfect!" he said excitedly, "It's exactly what I want to convey to her. Is that something you can only give to a girlfriend?"

" I- Uh, not really, I guess I mean it doesn't _have_ to mean anything romantic if that's not what you're going for, but usually, that sort of thing- never mind." She cut herself off midway dismissively, "That is exactly what you want to say to her isn't it, son?"

"Yeah," he responded confused.

"Then that's what matters! Do you want to get it?" she asked enthusiastically.

"Hell Yeah," he replied in kind, "Thanks for all your help Lady!"

"Mary. You can call me Mary. If that girl gives you anymore grief, come right back. I'm sure I'll have just the spoon to cheer her up." She said, winking merrily at him.

He waved back at her, wryly thinking that his coffers would never be able to bear the brunt of cheering Emi up every time she 'gave him some grief'.

Still, he was very pleased with his purchases. And he liked that old saleslady. She was very pleasant. She did her job well too. He liked his spoons.

He examined them again when he got back home.

He hoped they would both like it. He wasn't too worried about Chi-chan's reaction. She seemed like she would like whatever he got her as she had just wanted a souvenir from Ente Isla from him. But Emi….

He was a little nervous about giving Emi her gift, since she didn't want one from him.

He hoped she would come around eventually and respond affirmatively to him. He had really meant it when he asked her to be his Great Demon General. He wanted her on his side very badly, but he didn't know how to convince her. Chi-chan for some reason didn't seem willing to help him out here, so he was at a loss how to get through to Emi by himself.

She could be so unreasonably stubborn sometimes.

He wanted very badly to show her that this time would be different.

He never planned on losing himself again, but if she was by his side, then she could ascertain it for herself. That was what she was most afraid of, wasn't it?

He also just as badly wanted to show her a better world; a world different from what she'd known.

He needed to prove to her that he could. What would it take to get her on his side?

She already knew he was someone she could count on. She had said as much after he had rescued her from the church in Ente Isla. But how to make her see that there was more for her on this side of the world than that.

He had never thought there would ever come a day when he would worry about things like this, but he really was afraid she would leave him and suddenly align herself with the church or angels or anybody but him.

It was an unbearably frightening thought.

He absolutely hated the idea of it turning out like that.

It was embarrassing to admit, even to himself, but it seems that the Demon Lord had become unbearably attached to the Hero.

So much so the idea of being apart from each other or fighting on opposing sides was becoming impossible to consider even.

He could only hope she had become just as accustomed to him as he had her.


	4. Chapter 4

# stomach jitters Part I

Week 1

She was driving him bonkers.

What had he been thinking?

Sure, they needed more manpower at McRonald's.

Sure, he had wagered if he pestered her enough, she would apply here.

Sure, he had been technically prepared for the possibility, but figuratively?

He had thought it would take her a lot longer to cave.

Dealing with her from afar had been taxing enough, but with her in such close proximity?

He didn't know if he could handle it.

He had tried to get out of it on the first day he discovered he had a shift with her.

It was an irrational overreaction, but he went so far as to pretend he had a fever so he wouldn't have to deal with her.

Ashiya would have none of it though. So he had to go.

And it was a nightmare.

_The male employees were jealous because he was the one training her._ Could you believe that?

It pissed him off! They had no idea what a pain she could be.

Dammit, did she have to be that popular?

_To make it worse, she haaaad to be better than him at everything_.

Why the hell did she have to be better at everything she tried?

Even Misaki-san admitted Emi was probably more efficient than Maou and grasped things quicker.

Fine. That was fine. He could deal.

It was irritating, but it also humbled him a bit. So fine.

He would deal with these minute changes at his workplace.

_What he couldn't deal with was Emi being somewhat 'nice'. To him. _

What the hell was up with that?

He was too used to 'not nice'. It wasn't fair to him to suddenly change that aspect of their relationship when he had already resigned himself to 'not nice'.

He couldn't handle it.

How was he supposed to act around an 'Emi' that was_ 'nicer' _than usualto him?

It terrified him.

It made him feel weird. Like really weird. And he didn't like it.

He didn't know what this new, restless feeling in his tummy was, but it was driving him crazy.

Arghf. He knew it.

She lived to irritate him.

No doubt about it.

She. Was. Intent. On. Driving. Him. mad.

And Oh. He really would prefer it if she called him Maou-san instead of Sadao-sempai.

Emi calling him by his first name and attaching the sempai suffix to it was too cute in a very disturbing way, and he didn't think it was wise to allow himself to get used to it.

Emi was the type who could turn from vulnerable kitten to ferocious beast in a matter of seconds and he liked to make sure he didn't get too caught up in either versions of her. He had felt the brunt of that mistake before.

But of course, she just did whatever suited her regardless of what he wanted.

That was Emi for you.

…..

Week 2

The restless feeling in his tummy had settled down a bit.

It still acted up around her sometimes, but he had gotten good at ignoring it.

She was still behaving all pretty and nice with him. And it was still driving him bonkers, that.

But he had gotten somewhat used to it.

He had forced himself to focus on the positives during the week.

One. Even if she was being 'nice', she wasn't being too 'nice'.

She still snarked at him from time to time. So that was a relief.

He didn't know what he would do if she stopped snarking at him.

Probably shake her hard; fall at her feet; and beg her to pleasepleaseSnark at him in tears.

Thank God he didn't have to resort to _that sorry act. _

Two. It was kind of nice, he supposed.

I mean, yeahh, it gave him random 'stomach jitters,' and occasional attacks of 'the awkward', and suure, it was really weird they weren't biting each other's heads off like before, but he felt this tempered, almost friendly snarking wasn't so bad either.

It almost felt like they were 'getting along'.

God forbid. If he said that out-loud, she would tell him to go die [or, go take a hike since she was being 'nicer' now…]

But he wondered wistfully if she was finally coming to some sort of conciliatory terms with her hatred for him after all?

I mean, he would absolutely hate it if she suddenly decided he was a waste of her time and returned to Ente Isla without him, however, he wouldn't be opposed to Emi thinking he wasn't so bad, and seriously considering that maybe him conquering Ente Isla wasn't such a bad outcome for all of them.

Yeah. He could definitely get behind that sort of change in Emi.

Maybe she would even be willing to help him in his endeavor.

That would be reaal sweet. Not very likely though.

_He could almost see her sticking her tongue out and laughing derisively at him, "Hahaha. You wish. But it's never gonna happen."_

Anyway, that wasn't the point. The point was he didn't entirely dislike Emi's fresh demeanor.

They were spending a lot more time together than he was used to, but he didn't really mind it.

If he was going to be completely honest, he was even looking forward to it a little these days.

Oh God. What was the world coming to?!

How did it happen that the demon lord was actually looking forward to spending time with the Hero?

What had she done to him?

He had no bloody clue, but as long as she didn't disappear on him like before he was content to go with the flow.

He didn't much care to dwell on the mysteries of it anyway.

He had a nasty feeling the realities of his potential discoveries would be much more frightening than he cared to figure.

Yup. He was better off not knowing.

Week 4

They had settled into a somewhat comfortable routine, stomach jitters and all.

They had even gotten into the habit of walking to their favorite intersection or the station together after shifts.

Like today.

However, there was an odd kind of tension hanging in the air between them now.

He broke it.

"Are you going?" he asked abruptly.

He noticed she was distracted. It irked him.

"Huh?" she responded, startled out of her thoughts.

"The date, stupid ", he said stoically. " Are you going?"

Now, what the hell had possessed him to ask _about that_?

Hadn't he decided he was going to pretend he hadn't heard the eager kid ask Emi out earlier? It was none of his business after all. There went that thought in the trash can.

"Y-you were listening?"

"It's not like I could help listening. I finish my shift around the same time, you know?" he threw back at her, rolling his eyes at her like she was stupid for not realizing that sooner.

He knew she had plenty of admirers at work, but this was the first time somebody had the gumption to directly approach her.

"Y-you should have waited outside until we were finished. Now that I think about it, you interrupted us before I could reply. You even barged in casually and acted like nothing happened. I-I thought you hadn't heard."

"Well, I did. Besides, even if I hadn't heard anything, it would have been obvious to anybody what was going on. You were so damn red. You know, you're pretty red right now too." He scoffed drily, an unnecessary bite to his voice.

So she turned red like a fire truck for things like this too.

She was cuter than usual when she looked like that, but somehow, he didn't like it this time. He had thought she only did that with him and only because she was angry or embarrassed.

Her red face - what did it mean this time?

"Sh-Shut Up!" she stuttered angrily, "Why did you interrupt us and act like nothing happened?!"

He shrugged nonchalantly.

"I thought you would appreciate the interruption. I was trying to be tactful. Just to be annoying. Or all three. Take your pick."

He suddenly halted.

"Wait a minute?! You're not actually thinking of going, are you?" he asked incredulously, finally catching on to her indecision. He didn't know why, but he was incredibly annoyed.

She had no bloody business looking so red and pleased because some stupid human kid who didn't know any better had asked her out.

"S-So what if I was?!" She snapped back at him, thoroughly irritated.

"You're kidding right? You're the _Hero_. You can't go out with some regular kid from this side of the world."

"Says Who?" she snarled at him, just to be contrary and added, "And that goes for you too, doesn't it!"

"Says the Demon Lord!" he bit out, and countered as casually as he could, "I'm not the one considering dating anybody from here, you know. _Unlike_ you?"

"Then all the more reason for the Hero to disregard the Demon Lord's input, right?" she countered smartly, "And who said I was considering it? It's none of your business anyway."

"You're right. It's none of my business", he agreed pleasantly, even though in reality he felt really bitter for some reason and he didn't have a good comeback on the ready right then.

"Don't rain on my parade then. I don't see why you're so upset about this". She tilted her head to observe him, confused. She seemed to sense his unusual inner turmoil over the matter. "I mean, what's the big deal? You went out on a date with Chiho-chan once, remember?"

"That wasn't really a proper date, you know? She just needed some advice. And you happened to interrupt that one too, if you care to remember it more clearly?"

"Well, Duh. What kind of Hero would I be if I let an innocent, impressionable young girl go out with the big bad demon lord? It would have been akin to skinning a lamb alive."

"You've certainly got an unpleasant way of wording things when I am involved, Don't you?

She raised her brows at him condescendingly.

He sighed.

"Well, what kind of Demon Lord would I be, if I let the Hero go out with some unsuspecting, foolish kid who didn't know how vicious she could be? It would be akin to disillusioning every romantic bone in his body and scarring the sensitive boy for life.

"Ha Ha Ha…very funny." she said, infuriated.

He could feel the angry ticks forming on her forehead and her fingers itching to smack the smug, well-meaning look off his face.

"I think it's pretty noble of me, don't you think?" he continued to bait her intentionally, oddly not for his own amusement, but because he really was unusually aggravated about the whole thing.

Would she actually go on that date with him?

"I think there's something seriously wrong with your logic. You are the Demon Lord. I _should _be legitimately worried about unleashing you on anybody." Emi continued, equally aggravated, "I, on the other hand, am the Hero. _Why _should you be worried about letting me loose on anybody?"

…..

He couldn't say anything to that.

"I don't understand." She said tiredly. "I give up trying to figure you out. Are you going to ruin this for me too, like everything else in my life?"

He softened, suddenly feeling guilty. He hadn't meant to give her a hard time about it when he wasn't quite sure why he was so agitated about it himself.

"I wasn't aware this was something worth ruining for you?" he gently queried, very seriously this time.

"Is it so weird that I might be looking forward to going out on a date like a normal girl? I mean, I know I'm not normal and all that, but well, it's just one date. It's not like I like him or anything. I thought if I was completely upfront and tell him not to expect anything and If he was okay with that, then I could go or something… but…well, never mind…I just wanted to go out I guess. Whatever. You win. I'm going to turn him down tomorrow. It's not like I could ever be normal with someone like you around me anyway. I was being silly." She unconsciously burst out in a nervous ramble, gesturing wildly, and tugging on her braid endearingly.

She had completely stunned him with that exposition of herself.

"I'm sorry." He blurted out, stunning her in turn.

She shrugged his apology away, embarrassed.

"Forget it. I wasn't seriously considering it anyway. It's just because you started ribbing me about it and all… I got mad..."

They looked away from each other awkwardly, (he felt those blasted stomach jitters again), and noticed that they had reached the crossing.

An awkward but more comforting silence permeated them, as they waited for the signal to switch to permit pedestrian walk.

"…"

"….."

"Emi…?"

"…hmmm…?"

"If it's a date without expectations you're wanting, then how about going out with me?" he blurted out unexpectedly.

"What?!"

"I said-"

"I heard you! I just thought maybe you would take the chance to pretend you hadn't said anything." she retorted fiercely, flushing more furiously red than earlier.

"Sorry. No can do." he said stiffly, even as he cringed with embarrassment internally.

She turned to peruse him, completely caught off-guard. He stared back at her defiantly, enthralled by her flustered, confounded expression despite himself.

They were so engrossed in deciphering each other they didn't notice the street post signaling green or the vehicles moving past them.

He didn't know how long they stood there staring at each other without a sound.

He thought a world of disbelieving confusion and impossible possibilities passed between them, swirling chaotically in the profound backyard of their wide-eyed defiant orbs.

It absently occurred to him that this was like one of those 'time stood still moments' in the frivolous manga's he distractedly skimmed through during break-time.

He waited nervously for her to recover her senses and yell at him for losing his.

"No." she said quite abruptly and bluntly, jolting him out of his thoughts.

She forced her features to relax into an unsettling, blank ambiguity as if nothing had happened.

Her clear piercing green eyes had darkened to a dull storm.

"Huh? What's with that completely cold and dismissive response?" he pried instinctively, feeling the brunt of her pretended indifference seeping into him.

Maybe nothing had really passed between them and he had just imagined that exchange.

The feeling of time being out of joint for a bit there in the indecipherable oblivion of their gazes-It probably never happened.

"I don't want your pity," she stated unexpectedly, a tiny vulnerable tremble in her harsh voice.

"I'm not- "

"Or kindness. Or anything!"

"But-

"It Doesn't matter! I don't want to spend time with you alone! Not without Alas-Ramus or the others around. "

"….."

The rejection unexpectedly hurt.

It was surprising he was bothered by it. But he felt the sharp bite of it quite keenly.

"..Also," she rambled on flimsily, "you're the type of guy who doesn't have the common sense to dress up for dates on his own, aren't you? Ashiya had to force you to dress for Chiho-chan and you didn't bother to dress-up for our family dates with Alas-Ramus too,…so Yeah, I don't think I want to go out with a half-assed guy like that."

She turned her nose up at him as he narrowed his eyes at her, unbelievably offended.

He knew she was purposefully saying those things to shake him out of his odd mood and get a rise out of him, but her flippant objections still offended his sensibilities, so he set out to pointlessly counter all of them, even the pseudo-non-reasons, in an exaggeratedly slow manner.

"One. I don't do pity. Two. Stop making-up excuses. How shallow can you be to base your rejection on my lack of dress-sense? 3. To make it clear, I didn't dress up for our dates with Alas-Ramus because I was trying to act normal, and pretend it wasn't a big deal when it clearly was! And I can't believe you're holding that against me! Four. I can totally dress up for dates in the future if that's what you like. And Five. Don't you Dare ask me if my expenses can survive dress-ups and dates, because Hell yeah it can. I'll be sure to make sure of that. So there. Any more objections?"

She was really flabbergasted at his speedy outburst.

"You can't really be serious about this whole date thing?" she insisted, looking small and lost.

"I am though. Is there a reason I shouldn't be?" he added quietly but firmly.

"a million. Did you forget? We hate each other. I'm the hero, you're the demon lord. And then there's Chiho-chan. What about Alseif? Suzuno? Lucifer? Everyone in Ente Isla? Oh God, How can you still be going on abo-"

"It's just a date, Emi!"

"….Just a date? … Ooohhh. I see."

She suddenly looked really mad. What set her off now?

"W-what do you see?"

"It's the whole no strings attached deal to it that appeals to you, doesn't it? Are you looking for a meaningless affair without any expectations? Is that it?"

"Huuhhh?" Where the hell was she getting that angle from, dammit?

"I should have known. How depraved can you be?"

She had wildwild eyes right now and he was absolutely sure she would have stabbed him without hesitation if she had her sacred sword out right now.

"Oy, Emi! C-calm down Okay. Its not what your thinking. At all."

"Then what is it?" she snarled at him, "I don't understand…" , she added more hopelessly, stirring him.

"Would it really be so bad if we were to do this?

"_What do you mean by it_?"

Her piercing, lime-green orbs burned into him with confusion. His own, agitated crimson globes melted into a wistful sadness in response, as he wasn't quite sure himself what he meant by asking her out like that.

He knew he meant it. And that it wasn't just a whim.

Or a temporary, frivolous pursuit. Or some depraved, meaningless agenda for him.

But he also really didn't know what he meant by it. It's not like he had experience with this sort of thing.

Sigh. He pinched the bridge of his nose in consternation.

"I don't know." He responded honestly, while looking directly into her eyes." I don't understand it myself."

She looked away from his direct gaze, filling him with uncertainty.

He continued bravely, "I guess I just thought it'd be nice for both of us to get a taste of 'normal' since we don't get a lot of that with the responsibilities of our roles and all…"

"I-I see…"

He couldn't tell if she was pleased or displeased with his answer as she still wouldn't look at him.

Atleast, she didn't seem mad at him anymore. He waited -

"I'm going home…" She said abruptly, "..tired."

Wait, was she going to pretend he hadn't just said that?

It's true that it was strange for him to say things like that, but she had been acting strange recently too. It wasn't fair to blame all of it on him alone. And it absolutely wasn't fair to make him stew about it all on his own.

But he couldn't bring himself to say anything and make more of a fool of himself than he already had.

There were obviously too many barriers between them to go on a stupid, meaningless date together and he'd been too stupid and blinded by unexpected-what-the-fuckness to realize it.

"Oh, I get it. So we're not going to worry about it."

"…" She made a non-committal sound.

"I'll just pretend I didn't just bare myself out to you or anything, shall I?"

"Yeah", she finally responded blankly, "Nothing happened. I won't say anything to anyone about anything. And neither will you. See Ya."

And with that last parting shot, she hastily crossed the street, leaving him behind, feeling a little bereft without her.

And that was that.

They never visited that moment of weirdness again.

That didn't mean he was over it though.

Three months later he still found himself deliberating on it at random moments.

It annoyed him, but almost against his will he couldn't keep himself from piteously brooding over his embarrassing what-the-fuckness phase.

He really just wanted to forget it all, but he ran into her every other day now.

That made it next to impossible to forget.

How was she doing it? Was it so easy for her to brush it all away like it was nothing?

Well, she always had it in for him much stronger than he had it in for her.

Guess all that hatred for him makes it easier for her.

For some reason, the thought made him feel more painfully miserable.

This-this was getting ridiculous.

Emi always had the power to affect him, but she had never affected him this badly before.

What was wrong with him?

He considered asking Chi-chan for advice, but decided against it.

Her feelings for him might get in the way of offering an unbiased opinion.

Suzuno?

Hmm…She seemed like a safer bet.

They had settled into a comfortable relationship though he hadn't responded in the affirmative to her confession, and she didn't explode into irrational fits of jealousy like Chi-chan tended to do.

Chi-chan being a regular human from this world would probably be more helpful than Suzuno, and while he had a good relationship with her too [despite her confession not getting her the desired answer either], her turning green and misunderstanding things when other women were brought up made it hard to ask her advice about other women.

Come to think of it, it probably wasn't very sensitive of him to spring such a thing on Suzuno either.

Well then, he would have to be as vague about the matter as possible if he was going to go through with it.

Alseif and Lucifer were demons, so he doubted they would be much help in this matter. Rather, they would make things more difficult and embarrassing for him if they got wind of it.

He could almost imagine Alsief's affronted visage. He was definitely better off not knowing.

Lucifer being a fallen archangel might know more about humans and have some useful advice for him, but he doubted he would give it freely. He also doubted he would get away without being mocked gleefully about his unholy preoccupation with Emi. He would rather avoid that if he could.

Yes.

Suzuno was the only one he could go to.

…. …. … …

That's it. He had decided.

He would do it tonight.

He would be vague about it, but he would definitely ask her tonight.

He rapped on her door after dinner.

"Suzuno?"

She opened the door, looking up at him curiously, eyebrows furrowed and raised inquisitively.

"Is something the matter? It's rare for you to come looking for me at this hour?"

"Ah, No." he cleared his throat uncomfortably, "Can I have a minute alone? There's something I need to ask."

"Yes?"

"Well, I need some advice… can I come in?"

"You have come to seek my counsel?"

She looked smugly pleased.

"A-ah. Yes"

"Pray, tell, what do you seek my counsel on?" that odd respectful dialect in her smooth voice, making him feel like they were living in a different era altogether.

"W-well," he hedged, "there's a guy at work and he was having complex thoughts about this girl, so he came to his sempai for advice and..well, you know.."

"Oh?"

"Yeahhh…."

"So you being the dumb demon lord with very little knowledge about girls couldn't help his troubled kouhei and are now here to respectfully seek my superior knowledge on the subject?

"Hai", he said humbly.

"Alright then. You can come in."

They sat across from each other on the worn tatami mat, with the table between them.

"Proceed, Sir. I will hear you out and see what I can do to help."

"Uhh, right. Thank you. I appreciate it."

"Don't mention it. Your dilemma?"

"Uhh, yeahh. Umm to make it short, its basically just needing advice on how to get a girl, unreasonably reluctant to go out with you - to go out with you?"

She raised her eyebrows at him and said bluntly.

"Your kohai should just give up. It's disrespectful to pester and force a reluctant girl to go out with a guy she doesn't want to go out with."

His shoulders slumped.

"I-Is that so?"

Suzuno was confused. He looked utterly crushed at her advice, so she tried to back track a bit to make him feel better. He must really want to help this kohai of his.

"O-Oy, Maou. There might be circumstances where you can get around it. Normally, a girl shouldn't be pestered to go out with a boy if she doesn't want to, especially if the girl already has somebody she likes- does this girl-"

"No." he said quickly, sitting up a little straighter.

"Ok then. She might have some reasons she doesn't want to go out with your kohai. Is he ugly? Cruel? Stupid? Do they have some kind of a history or is she simply not interested? I need to know more to be able to help you."

"that um. Well. He's not ugly. He's good-looking. And he is definitely not cruel. Or doesn't mean to be. He's not stupid either. He's a great asset at McRonald's." he said proudly, "And well, I-I'm not entirely sure about those last things. It seems like they know each other well and he might have done something in the past that caused her some grief, but well, he seems really sorry about it and wants to make it up to her but…I-I don't know all the details though." He said hastily, afraid he might have said too much.

"Hmmm… is that so?"

"yeah, just tell me if you have something useful for me or not already!"

"What's with that attitude? I'm going on half-assed information here!"

"R-right. Sorry."

Sigh. Suzuno was baffled. Maou was acting very odd.

"Anyway. It depend on the magnitude of the grief. If it was something she felt like she could never forgive, then it might not work out for your kohai. Sorry."

He looked impossibly depressed again.

"R-right. Of course."

"Maybe if he apologized properly and showed her that he was really sorry. Maybe she needs to know and see that for herself before she can forgive and move forward. Who knows. I'm sorry, Maou. It would depend on the girl and the crime in question."

"en. en. Ah. Thanks. I get it"

He didn't look happy about it when he left her though. It was rare to see Maou this affected about something. Then her phone buzzed loudly, interrupting her train of thoughts.

She picked it up on the second ring and said, "Hello, Emilia?"

….

"S-Suzuno! Hi! You picked up pretty quickly!"

"Yes. I did. You sound pretty odd. Did something happen?"

"What? Ah well, maybe."

"…"

"I'm waiting…"

"I won't go into details and I'm only sharing this with you because I think I might explode and you have to promise you won't mention it in front of Chiho-chan or Rika or anybody else before I go on!"

"O-Okay Emilia. If it's a matter of such deep magnitude and secrecy, I promise I won't. What is it?"

"I-I got asked out by umm, I guess, two sempai's at McRonalds about a month ago. And I, well, I sort of turned them down but I can't seem to forget about that second date request entirely. "

"…Is that all?"

"W-what do you m-mean, is that all? I-Its a date. Its something of the utmost importance to a girl you know! And honestly I tried to forget about it. As a Hero, I can't really be thinking about these things, but it's been stuck in my head for days now. "

"S-Sorry. You're right. Well, If you like him and you're thinking this much about it, then why don't you just go? There's no harm in trying it out, right?"

"What are you talking about? I don't like him at all! And I'm the Hero! I can't date him!"

"Huh? What did the guy do to get on your bad side this soon? He doesn't know you're the Hero, right? "

"t-that's not it! He didn't! Well-"

"W-wait! Is it Maou-"

"N-N-NO! NONONONONO"

"O-Ok. So why are you thinking about this date request so much?"

Suzuno was absolutely sure now that Maou was one of the sempai's who had asked Emi out.

"Well, b-because he said he wouldn't be expecting anything from me, and well, it would give me "a taste of normal", something I've never had since..well. . It's the same with him..I-I mean, he apparently has some grand family issues and he wants some normalcy in his life too…is what he said, so..W-what do you think?"

Maou's odd behavior earlier made complete sense now and she was shocked.

Were the Demon Lord and Hero actually becoming more than a little interested in each other?

Were they falling in love with each other but unable to recognize it because they were so adamantly against it?

"Suzuno?..."

She felt a sharp stab in her chest. She was still a little bit in love with Maou after all, but she understood.

"You should do it."

"W-what?"

"You should do it, Emilia."

I'm sorry, Chiho. I know that I am breaking your heart by encouraging this, but it can't be helped.

You and I are the same. So please don't think badly of me.

It had never occurred to her before, but somehow, Maou and Emilia just seemed right for each other. They would be a good influence on each other. Neither she nor Chiho would be able to match the incredible history and complicated feelings that connected those two.

God, they already behaved like estranged lovers. All they needed was the actual building up of feelings to solidify their bond and it looks like they are finally headed that way now.

"B-but.."

"Its Okay. No one will have to know. Just go and see if you can enjoy a day with this person. I won't tell anyone about this."

"Suzuno…"

"I promise."

"I-I- thank you."

"Atleast promise me you'll think about it?"

"Sigh, I-I'll think about it."

"Ok. Good. Bye."

"Bye."

She had gone and done it.

She had just set up a date between the Demon Lord and the Hero.

What was she doing?

She was already having second thoughts about this, but she was still convinced she had made the right decision. A million things could go wrong on this date, but she was sure now that the Demon Lord and Hero were meant to be.

Maou better be grateful for her behind the scenes effort. It was clear to her he really did want to go on this date with Emilia.

Sigh, it was actually quite funny now. Neither of them knew that they had both come to the same person to seek advice about the other and that she now knew about them.

Her and Chiho's heartache aside, she was almost looking forward to seeing how the events surrounding this date will unfold. Almost.

At least Alas ramus will be utterly overjoyed to know her mama and papa are getting on well.

Her happiness _might_ serve to mollify everybody else's horrified reactions.


End file.
